Collective Power, Democracy and Futarchy as ONE!

Power of the Collective

When civilization began to bind through religion, ritual, language, cultural identity and physical strength, the quality of life improved.  That seems to still be the reason why civilization stays together in today’s world.  Rousseau referred to the “social contract” that must be obeyed if one is to live as an individual that benefits from the “improved quality of life” that civilizations offers.

The power of the collective is seen every time the computer is turned on, or the television channels surfed.  The power of the collective human civilization is immense.  But for how long have things been this way?  Since Democracy perhaps?  Certainly Democracy has brought to western culture the Philosophical stone that gives insights as to the power of the collective.

Does the common populace with all its heads together know more than the single leader of state such as a King who is an expert on affairs of the state?  That is the question that Democracy proposed to the Citadels and City States of Ancient Greece.  And yet, once again we find ourselves in a world of City States and Citadels in the world of merchant commerce and megacorporations.  

Democracy vs. Anarchy

Democracy has been an institution that seems to have worked relatively well between senators and statesmen, among many diverse areas of academic life and interest throughout the last days of Athens, the entire Roman Empire and throughout the middle ages all the way up till the Renaissance.

The political thought and structure of an ideal Anarchy was first conceptualized toward the early beginnings of the Renaissance and there actually were many villages and institutions based on anarchy until as late as the end of the Victorian Age.  Anarchy was a reality in many communities throughout Europe and the new world (as it still is in some remote areas of the world even today).  But when the father of Anarchy "Thomas Moore" first wrote of An-Archos (no king), that is to say of anarchy, he had no intention of giving incentive to violent ways.  Thomas Morre was more looking to inspire a Platonic ideal of Utopia.

However unfortunate it may be that anarchy is considered a form of chaotic disorder, none the less, it is an ideal community based on Platonic Ideals, and obviously Utopia.

Almost all the forms of government except for Futarchy and Anarchy possess some form or another that plays the role of King.  Even Democracy holds its King and its many statesmen are in a way, royal enforcers of their own will (rarely if ever at all the will of the people they serve).  And perhaps in a sense, human interest, the power of anecdotes and rhetoric are to blame for the mutilation of justice that occurs in Democratic societies such as ours.

Anarchy is a Utopia, where no King exists, where everyone is King, there is no law except those of our own moral code.  And that basis for common sense extends into all social constructs (comon sense is the law in anarchy).  However beatiful Democracy or Anarchy may sound for any one or more citizens of a community, it is the collective which should and does hold the most amount of knowledge.  It is the Power of the Collective which must be harnessed in any political system.

The true Power of the Collective can only be harnessed and achieved when every individual in the collective makes their choices based on common sense, not the fear of being destroyed by the state, put in prison or banned.

But then, if it is in our nature to be interested in ourselves, then how can Anarchy ever work?

The only viable solution to ANY system is EDUCATION.

The people, the collective need a system of knowledge distribution that is effective, factual, down to earth and most of all Cold Logic.  But school, teachers, the press, and every other knowledge distribution medium we use today is based on one important learning element, passion.  The passion of Rhetoric.  To give an experience through sounds, gestures, looks and body language, is to use the art of convincing that ones own point of view is the correct one. 

The Futarchy of an Algorithm

Perhaps while it is interesting for humans to actually learn through the experience and passions of other human beings without the shadow of a doubt it is not the road to complete and total FACT.  Take opinions of the future for example:

One expert says, that offering Tai Chi, Ballet and Kung Fu in public schools will maintain more children of low income in school because those children are not motivated with traditional activities that are mainly Audio-Visual nor those that are traditional sports.

In Democracy, this person, even though they may be correct (an expert after all), it would not be in the interest of the senators to do such a thing.  It may be the interest of the people even, but the senators are worried about other things, not the best things to improve the quality of life.

Perhaps Democracy should enslave itself then, to quotas and algorithmic representations of well being in a population?  How?  Futarchy!  Futarchy is simply put, the simplest form of collective power where decisions are made directly by the collective population itself without any lengthy rhetoric or personal bias.

How do we calculate well being?  GDP!  That’s how.  Gross Domestic Product.  Obviously, the GDP at present does not take into account such factors as the homeless, poor and unemployed.

The GDP would then need an algorithm that alots points and penalties to statistical factors in each of the areas of human and economical growth and development.  For unwanted factors and statistics, penalties would be added, and for desired statistics, points would be awarded.  Hense, future decision making is facilitated by those who actually are the people.

The suggestion above about martial arts and ballé in public schools could be coupled with an economical statistic like “doing this will increase our nations well being in .003% within four years of its implementation.”

The chances on a Futarchy using such a Predictive Market as this telling what outcomes would definitely, would be correct some 89,9% of the time.  Where as the expert only 79,9% of the time.

Our system can be better.  And poverty need not be a direct consequence of progress and capitalistic consumption.  Democracy that uses a Futarchy, would become the Utopia that Thomas Moore and Plato had both dreamt of.  A government based on education and the distribution of knowledge within minutes of its conception.

“Prediction Market make quick work of uncertainty; using the algorithm to order certainty based on common sense.”